In what was supposed to be a close encounter of the Korean kind, KT Rolster ripped up all form books with three decisive games against a shell-shocked Samsung Galaxy in the semifinals of the LCK Spring Playoffs. They’re now one step closer to the championship, and a spot at MSI in Brazil.

KT’s strategy of drafting team-fighting compositions and sacrificing early-game map control worked wonders. Despite often giving up early Drakes, KT Rolster played to their strengths and took apart their opponents in almost every skirmish.

Samsung Galaxy, on the other hand, looked nothing like their regular season selves. Seeming to decide to play a different strategy to what brought them so much success in the regular season, they looked out of their depth, and not even a triple substitution in the third game could stop their slide out of playoffs.

KT Rolster’s reward is a best of 5 showdown against pre-season favourites SK Telecom T1 and, despite their showing today, KT will be seen as massive underdogs.

Samsung Galaxy will be left to lick their wounds, but the 50 Championship Points they’ve accumulated will be a big help in their quest to make the 2017 World Championship.

KT Decisive, Samsung Sloppy

Despite what many analysts were predicting, it was never a close contest. KT jungler Go “Score” Dong-bin was in terrifying form, setting the pace of the contest throughout. His synergy with star top laner Song “Smeb” Kyung-ho was apparent throughout, causing Samsung top laner Lee “CuVee” Seong-jin huge problems throughout, including a 22 minute Flame Horizon in the third game of the series.

KT Rolster took advantage of some questionable Samsung decisions throughout, and this became especially noticeable as the series progressed. The third game is where this was most apparent. After a small victory in the middle of the map, Samsung rushed over to Baron Nashor in an attempt to wrestle control of the game and claw their way back into the series. However, they did not account for Heo “PawN” Won-seok’s Malzahar and Kim “Deft” Hyuk-kyu’s Jinx still being alive and definitely ready to fight. An almost unforgiveable sin, and one that was heavily punished.

Despite getting the Baron buff, four Samsung members immediately lost it as Malefic Visions and Runaan’s Hurricane-empowered Rockets tore Samsung apart, the entire series summer up in a matter of seconds, and a blow that Samsung could not possible hope to recover from. And so it proved to be.

A Convincing Display, But Things To Work On

KT Rolster, for all their dominance, were not perfect. Score, in particular, was guilty of over-aggression on a few occasions, particularly in Game 2 with Elise, a champion many feel must be banned away from him. They’ll also want to look to shore up the early game, as they will not have the same lane-dominant matchups that they had against Samsung. This is especially true in the midlane, where PawN will have to be at his very best if he’s going to contain Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok.

Whether they’ll be able to step up is not certain, but one thing is. This Telecom War is going to be the biggest of them all, and it’s going to be very exciting.